They’re relentless on Ukraine. For the first time since Nazi Germany’s defeat, reemergent fascism infests Europe’s heartland.

Western leaders support it. John Pilger quoted Professor Terry Eagleton saying “for the first time in two centuries, there is no eminent British poet, playwright or novelist prepared to question the foundations of the western way of life.”

Its most disturbing aspects. Its immorality. Its belligerence. Its lawlessness. Its contempt for popular interests. Its support for wrong over right.

“No Shelly speaks for the poor,” said Pilger. “(N)o Blake for utopian dreams…(N)o Byron damns the corruption of the ruling class…”

“(N)o Thomas Carlyle and John Ruskin reveal the moral disaster of capitalism. William Morris, Oscar Wilde, HG Wells, George Bernard Shaw have no equivalents today.”

The late “Harold Pinter was the last to raise his voice.” He’s badly missed.

So are Gore Vidal, Studs Terkel, Howard Zinn, Edward Said and other distinguished figures speaking truth to power forthrightly, publicly, and effectively.

They’re gone. They’re not around to challenge official Big Lies. Relentless misinformation on Ukraine.

Readers are carpet-bombed daily. The Russians are coming, they’re told.

“Mr. Putin (plays) his dangerous game in Ukraine with cunning and deceit,” claim Times editors. “First he annexed Crimea.”

He held “intimidating military exercises on the Ukrainian border and sen(t) in ever more men and arms in support of secessionists in Donetsk and Luhansk, all the while falsely denying any Russian involvement other than humanitarian concern for the ethnic Russian population.”

Western monitors were invited to observe them. No Russian invasion occurred. No cross-border artillery fire.

So-called satellite imagery was fake. One or more Ukrainian warplanes shot down MH 17.

Clear evidence showed cannon fire downed it. No ground to air missile was involved. Don’t expect Times editors to explain. Or its correspondents and contributors.

On September 27, Putin bashing continued. The Times headlined “It Pays to Be Putin’s Friend,” saying:

He “steer(ed) lucrative accounts” Bank Rossiya’s way after Washington “made (it) a primary target of sanctions…”

It’s “run by some of (Putin’s) closest friends and colleagues from his early days in St. Petersburg…”

It’s “emblematic of the way (his) brand of crony capitalism has turned loyalists into billionaires whose influence over strategic sectors of the economy has in turn helped him maintain his iron-fisted grip on power.”

Fact check:

US government/corporate corruption gives grand theft new meaning. So does US-style crony capitalism.

Monied interests run America. They so so in league with fascist governance.

Mussolini called his version corporatism. It reflects “the merger of state and corporate power,” he said.

America’s version is worse. It’s global. It combines police state harshness, disdain for fundamental rights, and brazen brutality with unbridled corporate power.

It’s ideologically over-the-top and then some. It’s ruthless. It’s all take and no give. Non-believers aren’t tolerated.

Fascism works this way. America is the world’s leading exponent. Ukraine is the epicenter of its European reemergence. Don’t The Times to explain.

“If the modern Russian state is Kremlin Inc., Mr. Putin is its chief executive officer, rewarding his friends with control of state-owned companies and doling out lucrative government contracts in deals that provoke accusations of corruption but have the veneer of legality under the Putin system,” it claimed.

He “collect(ed) new friends,” it added. He “la(id) the foundation for what would evolve into the system of personalized, state-sponsored capitalism now at the heart of his power.”

“In many cases, contracts and property (are) distributed through insider deals, often without open or transparent bidding.”

Stephen Lendman was born in 1934 in Boston, MA. In 1956, he received a BA from Harvard University. Two years of US Army service followed, then an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1960. After working seven years as a marketing research analyst, he joined the Lendman Group family business in 1967. He remained there until retiring at year end 1999. Writing on major world and national issues began in summer 2005. In early 2007, radio hosting followed. Lendman now hosts the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network three times weekly. Distinguished guests are featured. Listen live or archived. Major world and national issues are discussed. Lendman is a 2008 Project Censored winner and 2011 Mexican Journalists Club international journalism award recipient.

About Stephen

Stephen Lendman was born in 1934 in Boston, MA. In 1956, he received a BA from Harvard University. Two years of US Army service followed, then an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1960. After working seven years as a marketing research analyst, he joined the Lendman Group family business in 1967.